Hit the $30,000 mark!

In the past six weeks my investments have passed both the $25,000 and the $30,000 mark with regards to the total value of my investments. These past 6 weeks I have been on an investing craze purchasing new positions. I maxed out my TFSA by contributing $5000 and added new positions (AGNC, NLY, ANH, AAR.UN.HYM.UN, SPO.UN) and started contributing to my non-registered account.

I feel that I am at an important crossroad in my journey towards financial independence. My stock holdings are becoming more diversified and my income stream will soon begin to show greater force. I've been receiving over $100 per month in dividends the past couple of months and will soon be receiving this every month. I can already see my next goal: $200 per month in dividends. I am certain that this will happen fast. Perhaps by the end of the calender year???

Seeing that my TFSA and RSP are nearly maxed out I will be adding Canadian dividend paying stocks in my non-registered margin account. I already own BTB Reit and Pengrowth Energy in this account but am considering perhaps adding new positions in these companies: Enerplus; Industrial Alliance; Bell Aliant; Encana; Frontier communications; Shaw Communications?

I have yet to make up my mind and would encourage your opinion on which sector I should add a few positions in. How about energy for high dividends? Insurance for it’s low valuation and future growth? Banks for dividends? Telecoms for dividends?

I am also confident that I will be able to contribute between $1300-$1500 in February, March and April. By April or May I would expect to be over the $35,000 mark. It's still no where near my goal of financial independence but it's a good start. The dividends are slowly trickling in. I began my journey towards financial independence shortly upon graduating law school. I paid down my student loans from about $60K to $6K. In the past 18 months, my student loans have dwindled down from $6,000 to about $4,200 and my investments hit over $30,000. I have not borrowed any money to invest. I have simply been saving my income and add new positions whenever possible. Whenever I have free cash I try my best to put it in my brokerage account. I invest on average about $1,300-$1,500 a month.

If I continue to save $15,000 a year or $1,250 a month, my portfolio by the age of 35 could hit about $113K and my dividend income could hit about $6,700 a year (assuming a 6% reutrn). My portfolio could hit about $240,000 or $14,000 per year in dividends by the age of 40. This would not be enough to retire on but enough to supplement my income. Enough to quit my job working in a stressful field and perhaps doing something more enjoyable: working with not-for-profit organizations, getting involved in local politics, doing freelance journalism work, pro bono legal work, etc.

If I continue to save $20,000 a year or $1,666 per month, my portfolio could hit $135K and my dividend income could hit about $8,100 a year by the age of 35. My portfolio could hit about $300,000 or $18,000 a year by the age of 40.

Unlikely to happen, but if I saved $25,000 a year or $2,083 a month, my portfolio could hit $158K and my dividend income cout hit about $9,480 a year by the age of 35. My portfolio could hit about $360,000 or $21,600 a year by the age of 40.

I just wish I had started saving this at the age of 20 instead of 30. At my age now, I would be semi-retired. Instead I languished in academia and traveled the world, which in itself was extremely rewarding. Had I not studied, chances are that I would be like most of my high school friends who didn't pursue an education and are currently making $13-$14 an hour, living paycheck to paycheck. While they are less stressed as I (and probably have more free time and more fun) they haven't saved a dime. Perhaps this is typical of generation Y. I definitely don't want to work like a slave for the rest of my life. I am determined to work hard for the next couple of years and then make my money work for me which will increase my leisure time. It's a reasonable compromise.

Another way to look at it is as follows. If I make $45K a year, after taxes my actual income is say $30K (yes I live in Quebec where taxes are high). $30,000 divided by 52 weeks = $575 per week take home pay divided by 38 hours per week = about $15 per hour. I make about $15 per hour cleared.
Therefore every $15 per month that I receive in dividends covers one hour of work per month. 150 hours of work multiplied by $15 is about $2,250. For every $15 I receive in dividends, I need to work one hour less a month (in theory). There are about 150 hours per month and I currently receive enough dividends to cover about 7-8 hours (that's one day per month). Every $15 extra per month in dividends means 1 hour less that I will need to work. This is all conceptual because I still need to work those 150 hours per month but one day I won't. Another way to look at it is that for every $100 I receive in dividends per month, I will need to work 1 day less in the future.